Life

The son of the Rev. Edward Miller, he was born at Putney

Putney

Putney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....

, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, on 8 April 1832. At age 13 he was articled to an engineering surveyor at Westminster

Westminster

Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...

; but he later gave up his articles and entered Highbury College

Highbury College

Highbury College is a general further education college in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It provides vocational and academic education and training, from first-step courses to university level foundation degrees, specialised services for business and education in the community. The College is a...

, where he studied for the independent ministry. He graduated B.A. in 1853 and M.A. in 1855 at London University.

He was appointed pastor successively at Dorchester in 1855, at Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, in 1860, and at Newark, Nottinghamshire, in 1868. He gave up this last post in order to become secretary of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews

British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Among the Jews

The British Society for Propagating the Gospel Among the Jews founded London 1842, was the Presbyterian and dissenting churches' counterpart to the Anglican London Society for Promoting Christianity Among the Jews . The two societies were in large part identical, but representing high-church and...

. Subsequently he succeeded the Rev. J. Robinson as secretary to the London City Mission

London City Mission

London City Mission was set up by David Nasmith on 16 May 1835 in the Hoxton area of east London. The first paid missionary was Lindsay Burfoot.. Today it is part of the wider City Mission Movement....

.

He died on 22 December 1880, and was buried at Abney Park

Abney Park

The historic grounds of Abney Park are situated in Stoke Newington, London, England. It is a 13ha park dating from just before 1700, named after Lady Mary Abney and associated with Dr Isaac Watts. In the early 18th century, the park was accessed via the frontages and gardens of two large mansions...

.

Works

His principal works are:

• ‘Our Hymns: their Authors and Origin. Being Biographical Sketches of the principal Psalm and Hymn Writers (with Notes on their Psalms and Hymns),’ London, 1866; intended to be a companion to the New Congregational Hymn Book.
• ‘Our Dispensation: or, the place we occupy in the Divine History of the World,’ London, 1868.
• ‘Singers and Songs of the Church; being Biographical Sketches of the Hymn-Writers in all the principal collections,’ 2nd edit. London, 1869.
• ‘Christianum Organum; or, the Inductive Method in Scripture and Science. With an Introduction by J. H. Gladstone,’ London, 1870.